BVR Field Expedition in Belize

Follow along as Beaver students travel to Belize on a field research expedition! While in Belize, each student will focus on a specific project. Learn more by clicking a section above.

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Jaguars and ocelots and tapirs, oh my!

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Highlights from Eric’s “drone school”

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Finished our week with a tour of the Altun Ha Mayan ruin site and a visit to the Belize zoo. Feeling grateful for all the kind and interesting people we connected with this week.

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These are our friends Katherine, Sara and Eric (our chaperone scientist) walking back from one of our meals at the homestay. Sara and Katherine are PhD students studying manatees at their base in Mexico just across Corozal Bay. This trip helped establish an international collaboration for research and monitoring of manatees in this shared bay. 

During our delicious meals together of beans, fried bread, and the occasional hotdog, they kept us entertained with their solid English and even better laughs. Not to mention Katherine’s extensive knowledge and enthusiasm for manatee poopoo. A unanimous highlight of boat day #2 was Katherine’s ecstatic dance moves after having scooped up a floating manatee turd (a rare find). Integral to her research, manatee poop can say a lot about the diet, metabolism, and general health of its producer. This week has set the stage for Belize and Mexico to work together in the protection of this endangered species for years to come. We are so lucky to have spent this week with them and are excited to see where this partnership takes us in the future. (Written by Julia Gatewood)

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Recognize someone??? We spotted “Beaver”! Dolphins can be identified by the scarring patterns on their dorsal fins

This finding means that the dolphins here are residents, which has implications on strategies for their protection and management.

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We found dolphins!!! Springing into action, we got hydrophones into the water to record their sounds and the photographers snapped photos of their dorsal fins so we can identify individuals. Another busy and great day on the boat 🐬

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Successfully deployed both BRUVs off the boat today! These student-built underwater cameras can help track and monitor fish populations in Corozal Bay

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When you break your BRUV, just design a new one! Meet the BRUVmini

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Today we paired up with the Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development (SACD) to survey the river for manatees and use the drone to map habitat. We enjoyed the view of mangroves and spotted frigate birds and herons along the way

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After a long day on the boat deploying the bruv, and on land rebuilding the bruv after it broke, we all took a well-deserved (and delicious!) ice cream break.

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Squad.

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Making stuffed coconut gifts for monkeys at Wildtracks 😊

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Days 2 and 3!

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Today we went to Wildtracks! Wildtracks is an animal rehabilitation center. We learned what it’s like to volunteer in a program like this by making enrichment toys for monkeys and gathering sea grass for manatees. We all had fun husking coconuts and gathering food for manatees in the warm water.

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Enjoying the views in Sarteneja! Excited for many more adventures with our amazing group! Updates to come.

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This morning was dedicated to setting up our science projects. The BRUV was assembled, we ran a test of our microplastic protocol on tap water, spreadsheets were revised, and we continued some coding work on the raspberry pi.

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All smiles and ready for adventure! Safe and settled into our hotel in Sarteneja